Hackdays, events that bring many people from different backgrounds together to work on ideas, can be great fun for many reasons. But for computer programmers there is one particular reason it’s great fun.
Remember, the aim of the hack day is to explore an idea with other people, to see what is possible and hopefully kickstart the project into life after the hackday. You’ll probably end up building a prototype of the idea, to demonstrate how it works. The energy and ideas that are unearthed as people from different backgrounds work together is amazing.
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For Culture Hack Scotland this year I worked on an idea I came up with that week. I feel I didn’t really do the hack day properly; I ended up working on my own and not using any of the data. But the event was the perfect opportunity to test the idea.
Flocklight pulls all the twitter data for those attending or mentioning an event like a conference, and tries to highlight useful data about the connections between people. The aim is to provide you with information so you make the most of an event. For instance, are others you know going? Do you have something in common with a stranger there who you can go and chat to?
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I want to make one of those GPS maze games, where a maze appears on your phone and you walk around in real life to navigate the virtual maze – but with a twist. Continue reading →
My family has recently been emailing and texting round as we sort getting presents for everyone – making sure they get something they want whilst not getting two of the same thing … shouldn’t there be an app for that?
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You would think a basic rule for CV websites is if is a candidate hasn’t logged in for over a year then assume the data is out of date and flag it or remove it.
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What I got up to at this weekends Moving Targets hackday; we wrote a system that replays social media buzz as it happened on demand, so if your watching your favourite TV show later than everyone else you can still see everyone’s comments in context. Continue reading →
Months ago, I was at a hack day in Edinburgh, and a team were working on a idea they called black and white. I ended up doing a version of it as a simple webpage.
It was based on color.com, the photo sharing service that shows you photos that others have taken around you. They thought this was daft – after all you know what’s around you, your already there. What you don’t know is what’s at the other side of the world. They wanted a service were you could take a photo, and you would get one back from the other side of the world. Continue reading →
Many web hosting services like DrupalGardens.com and WordPress.com allow you to use your own domain. However, the set up procedure for many of them means that it is impossible to use an existing domain without some kind of downtime.
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This year, Edinburgh Festivals Innovation Lab is working hard to open up data about the festivals. I’ve just spent a day at their hackday, Culture Hack Scotland and now I want to announce 3 sites.
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